Lily frowned slowly as everyone turned to look at her."If… they're from England, that really just leaves two options. Either it's a family spell, contained in a private family grimoire and never shared. If that's the case then we'll never get a look at it. The other option is that the person who came up with it must have been very good at magical theory to come up with that spell as a single spell rather than the combination of two or three separate spells, not to mention having the requisite power to actually cast it."
Amelia nodded, looking thoughtful, "I've already got a request in with the Department of Mysteries to see if they might have any further leads for us on this sort of spell."
Sirius Black spoke up "Far be it for me to point this out, but that whirlwind...thing, wasn't the only weird spell. There was his whole… bursting into flames and disappearing part at the end."
Several heads in the room turned to look at Lily instinctively for explanation. Lily opened her mouth and then shut it, crossing her arms as a frown passed over her face.. "Yeah… I've got nothing for that. The only time I've seen someone disappear in flames like that is Headmaster Dumbledore when he's in a hurry and his phoenix takes him. And I certainly didn't see any phoenix in that memory. And as far as I know you can't actually disillusion a phoenix..."
"It's possible that it was misdirection." Kinglsey spoke up again.
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked, her tone curious.
Kingsley shrugged, "Well, we were all surprised by the fire, he could have disillusioned himself and snuck off."
It was Lily who replied, "No, he didn't look or seem to have time to cast anything. If I had to guess, I would have said he used a portkey with some sort of a theatrical spell attached? I've not seen it before but I could probably replicate the effect with a little bit of work." Sirius was shaking his head negatively, "There were some anti-portkey wards in place."
"It didn't seem to stop the death eaters from port keying out." Lily snorted out with a roll of her eyes.
Amelia nodded, a tired sigh escaping her throat, making everyone realize that she had been up straight through the night. "Only portkeys with a specific signature on them would be able to make it through the wards we had set up surrounding the cup. We are already aware that the death eaters portkeyed out. We don't know how they managed it, but we are looking into how they got their hands on those portkeys."
"So it is possible whoever this was, got their hands on the portkeys as well." Kingsley said with a nod. James shook his head, "It's possible, but I wouldn't discount a partner, especially with the fire effect. If he didn't know he would use the portkey, using something we hadn't seen before and didn't expect would have been a great way to cover his tracks. I would say it's possible someone else quick cast the illusion fire and disillusion, and then summoned him from nearby."
Amelia Bones nodded, with a little bit of a scowl, that idea was better than anything else her aurors had been discussing all morning. "That or the portkey with a theatrical effect might be our best guess, though I'm open to alternatives. Anyone else have anything to add?"
John Dawlish spoke up, his tone questioning, "How are we pursuing this guy? I mean if we find a lead or something, is this man a criminal? Or…" Frank Longbottom snorted, making no effort to keep his tone down, "He killed at least two death eaters in that skirmish. I say we that if we find him, we pin a medal on him. A thank you for taking more of our garbage out." Frank harbored no mercy for death eaters after what they had done to his wife.
Amelia sighed slightly, rubbing her hand over her face, pulling her monocle off of her eye to wipe it clean. "We know the identity of at least one of the deceased is Thomas Nott, head of the Nott family. We do not have any identity on the second person we assume to have been killed. The death eater's took his body when they port keyed out. Though no families have come forward with any complaint yet."
"Of course not. There's no way to go around claiming imperius this time. They'd have to step forward and announce that someone in one of their families was parading around as a death eater." Frank half stated, half growled.
James nodded, "I'm sure once they get around to it, the families will cry that one of theirs was killed without any sort of trial."
Amelia sighed and nodded in agreement, and after a few moments thought, "I won't say this man is a criminal, but I would like to speak to him sooner rather than later. Please keep that in mind." .
"May I make a suggestion?" Claude Delacour asked. When Amelia gestured for him to continue, he nodded and looked around. "My daughter said the man was pretty badly injured in the leg, his entire pant leg was soaked in blood. So it's possible he went somewhere for medical assistance." Amelia nodded thoughtfully. "We saw him take that hit in the memory. Good point. Longbottom, Dawlish, I want you to start at St. Mungo's and check for anyone coming in with a leg injury. If there's nothing there, then try some of the healers and apothecaries we know."
That signaled the end of the meeting, some of the Aurors stayed to discuss things further, but Lily ushered both Iris and Hermione home.
For the next week she had practically watched them like a hawk.
Sirius had been over every night during the week after work. It was obvious that he was concerned for them. Neither of Iris' parents had said anything, since he even had his own room in the manor, though he had used it infrequently in the past few years. Iris knew from her father, that the room had belonged to Sirius since they were schoolmates together and her grandparents had given it to him to make it easier for Sirius. He had spent as much time as humanly possible away from the craziness of his family.
Now he was using it to stay close to the Potters as much for his piece of mind as the Potter's. He spent every evening alternatively offering to help with Hermione and Iris' homework, engaging in an all-out prank war with Azalea and Ivy, or just playing with the Rose; who spent half the time demanded to "fly" being floated around by a levitation spell, and the other half wanting Sirius to read to her..
Remus had even spent a few nights over this week, and might have spent more but it had been a full moon and he was sure never to be anywhere close to the Potter family during that time. However, the whole week had been quiet. Aside from Iris' sore shoulder, it had been a rather pleasant week. She and Hermione had spent most of it working ahead in their classes, making sure they were prepared as was typical for them. Hermione always appreciated being able to do spells in a magical home without fear of the trace.
She heard the sound of the train whistle signaling that they were five minutes away from Hogwarts. To tell the truth Iris was happy to be back on the Hogwart's Express, headed for a bit of 'normalcy'.
One thing that Iris was surprised and thankful for was that the train ride had been a quiet one. Ron hadn't been by the compartment. Draco Malfoy hadn't stopped by for his annual welcome back stop and sneer. It seemed to Iris that she got at some peace and quiet one of her wishes had been fulfilled. She could only hope that the rest of the year would be as quiet and peaceful.
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